First To Fall – The Movie

FIRST TO FALL trailer

Two young friends abandon their peaceful lives in Canada for an uprising in their homeland of Libya, fueled by their hatred of Dictator Muammar Gaddafi, these untrained fighters join an unconventional war and risk everything to reach the front lines of battle.

SYNOPSIS

An intimate tale of friendship and revolution, this coming of age story documents the journey of two young friends, Hamid (26) and Tarek (21), who abandon their peaceful lives as students in Canada to join an unconventional war in their homeland of Libya.

Hamid and Tarek have never fired a gun, but in 2011 they run recklessly toward the war, fueled by their hatred of Muammar Gaddafi and their desire to be part of history. Once they arrive, their paths diverge. Hamid blazes ahead with fearless enthusiasm, and with a camera in hand he is invited to film the front lines by rebel forces, easily fitting in with the boyish camaraderie on the battlefield. Tarek’s journey is more difficult, introspective and unsure, consistently plagued by obstacles. He fights relentlessly against his destiny, ignoring all warnings that suggest his single-minded ambition to reach the frontline may have tragic consequences.

For eight months, director Rachel Beth Anderson documented raw moments of personal and breathtakingly dangerous acts of war and sacrifice as Hamid and Tarek join the rebels taking on Gaddafi’s army. The film captures the chaos and giddiness of revolution, the brutal loss of lives and innocence, and a deeply intimate view charting the young men’s decent into war as they discover who they are and what they are capable of. In Tarek’s words, “The end of the story is different than what I thought.”

‘First To Fall’ was a Gucci Tribeca grant recipient (2012) and had its World Premier screening at the International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA) in late 2013. Support for the film also provided by Project&.

In 2014 the film was a winner of two jury awards at the investigative journalism festival FIGRA, the Grand Prix Winner at RIFF, received an Accolade Global Film Competition Award of Excellence and was featured as the Best of Fest winner at the Columbus International Film Festival.

The film has continued to screen over 30 times in 12 countries. Most notably: the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in London/New York, the Frontline Club in London/Prauge, the Kickstarter Film Festival in New York/Los Angeles/London, the Bronx Documentary Center, Harvard University, and at the Bayeux-Calvados Award for War Correspondents.